Chain lube?

Got a new bike today. The chain is lubed with a very sticky grease. It picked up all sorts of junk just riding thru the woods a few minutes.

I ride in dusty conditions, and I have been running Rock-n-Roll extreme (blue) lube on my old bike. I removed the chain, cleaned the chain with paint thinner, dried it off, soaked in Rock-n-Roll, wiped clean, then apply before every ride.

What do ya'll think about giving the new chain the same treatment? The dealer recommended cleaning with Simple Green or Dawn dish liquid, but it will not get the stickyness off.

All depends on your conditions I suppose. I've used kerosene to clean and Teflon Dry-Lube on my bike and motorcycle chains for years, and find it to be a very good combo...doesn't get messy or pick up gunk, I get good chain life, and it's not messy.

Yeah, it has a SRAM-style "powerlink". Learning to unhook that was a challenge I wasn't aware that pushing out the rivets was bad -- have been doing that on my old bike and my wife's -- hers has a powerlink too, so will use it from now on.

I use R&R Extreme but if you are in dry/dusty conditions you might want to try Gold instead. I always degrease a new chain, rinse, dry (air compressor), and then apply the chain lube and wipe the chain down. You are supposed to apply R&R the night before for best results to give it time to setup.

Yeah, doing the master links by hand is hard. Park makes master link pliers. I'd recommend them if you do it a lot.

With something like ANSI roller chain, pushing rivets isn't really bad for the chain because that chain is wide, and since it isn't derailed (shifted) it has tighter fits for the side plates. More importantly, the side plates don't get force applied to them in an outwards directions when being derailed from a sprocket (because they aren't derailed). So breaking regular roller chain by pushing rivets is okay.

However with bicycle chain, the chains are much narrower, the plates have more clearance so the chain can have an angled chain line, and the side plates are pushed outwards by sprocket teeth when the chain is derailed. If you push rivets in that chain, especially 9 or 10 speed chain, those plates from which you pushed a rivet are much more likely to be pushed off the rivet by a sprocket tooth when it's derailed, at which point, the chain breaks. That's why there are master links.

If you're pushing rivets in something like 6-8 speed chain, and you go easy on shifting under load, the chain will probably be okay for a while. But unless you carry a chain tool when you ride, you might find yourself coasting and kicking off the ground to get back to the car after your chain breaks.

As for lube there's a ton of fudge factor with recommendations because its really hard to judge how effective a particular lube is. Just go with something that doesn't leave much of a sticky film on the outside that would pick up abrasive grit.

EDIT
Oh and regarding lube packaging, don't get an aerosol can. Honestly I find the idea of a spray lube for chain ridiculous. Just get a bottle you can drip on. No overspray and a lot cheaper.

Asking for chain lube advice on a bike forum is close to a Troll post. So many strong opinions on whats best. Do a search it has been done so many times before.

Actually I did search and found a few posts along the lines of "have you tried this or that" but nothing general -- I assume the most relative posts would appear at the top. Anyway, I appreciate everyone hashing it out again for me. And hopefully I am not the only one who has picked up some ideas.

I got a can of the DuPont teflon chain lube tonite. It is advertised as a cleaner and dry lube. The carrier feels similar to R&R. It comes in an aerosol can with a mixer shot and straw. I would prefer that it was squirt-on, so I might transfer it to an empty R&R bottle.

$7 for 11 oz by weight -- I figure that would be 13.75 fl oz. -- a lot cheaper than R&R.

Advertised to work for cable lube too.

Couldn't find Tri-Flow.

On the KMC site it states that the fastest way to wreck a chain is to remove the factory lube by soaking in solvent.

That's the brand my bike has.

I cleaned the outside of my wife's chain, but it still felt gritty when you flexed the links. It had been to be beach. I soaked it in gasoline and rinsed three times before that fine black sand stopped coming out.

I don't know why they use that sticky grease. Grease is great stuff if you can keep it clean. The chain would probably never wear out. But unless you ride indoors, I don't see how you are going to keep sand and dust out of the bearings.

For sure you would want to make sure it was fully lubed with something else if you did this. I soaked the chains in R&R after I soaked them in solvent. So we'll see. Wife's bike shifts GREAT now!

The stuff they cover new chains in is there to stop it going rusty in storage. Useless as a chain lube, and it acts like a glue for abrasive grit. I always wash it off with a solvent, and relube with proper lube.

However with bicycle chain, the chains are much narrower, the plates have more clearance so the chain can have an angled chain line, and the side plates are pushed outwards by sprocket teeth when the chain is derailed. If you push rivets in that chain, especially 9 or 10 speed chain, those plates from which you pushed a rivet are much more likely to be pushed off the rivet by a sprocket tooth when it's derailed, at which point, the chain breaks. That's why there are master links.

If you're pushing rivets in something like 6-8 speed chain, and you go easy on shifting under load, the chain will probably be okay for a while. But unless you carry a chain tool when you ride, you might find yourself coasting and kicking off the ground to get back to the car after your chain breaks.

The problem is modern chains have the ends of the pins peened, so the pin's ends are essentially mushroomed. When you push a pin out, it not only deforms the pin, but the plate it's pushed through as well.

I got a can of the DuPont teflon chain lube tonite. It is advertised as a cleaner and dry lube. The carrier feels similar to R&R. It comes in an aerosol can with a mixer shot and straw. I would prefer that it was squirt-on, so I might transfer it to an empty R&R bottle.

$7 for 11 oz by weight -- I figure that would be 13.75 fl oz. -- a lot cheaper than R&R.

I don't think it's exactly the same, but I bought a can of Motorcycle chain lube with teflon at Wally Mart. Was $6, and works fantastic!